Here at Dental Image Therapy Centres, we’re committed to achieving the highest possible standard of care and comfort for our patients. Part of how we do this is by keeping up-to-date with new and exciting advances in dental technology. Digital dentistry is a new and exciting frontier in dental medicine, giving us access to faster, easier and, most importantly, more comfortable tools and techniques to provide dental care to our patients – at the same high quality you’ve come to expect from our clinics.

In today’s Ask A Dentist blog post, we’ll be spotlighting Primescan, a tool that allows for quick and easy intraoral scanning for impressions. A key part of a larger CEREC^® workflow, Primescan is one piece of an entire suite of digital tools that allow for chairside creation of dental restorations in a single visit. We recently spoke with Dr. Patrick McManus, a dentist from our St. Vital location, about Primescan. Here’s what he had to say:

“Primescan is used for 3D scanning of a patient's teeth and associated soft tissue,” said Dr. McManus. “I use it to show a patient's teeth to them in an examination and to help fabricate crowns, bridges, nightguards and orthodontics.”  

“With Primescan,” Dr. McManus continues, “I am able to provide same-day dentistry for crowns and bridges. Before we incorporated it into our workflow, we used impression material that was slower and not as accurate. We had to wait a week to get the prosthesis back and our patients had to get local anaesthetic again. Now, I’m able to save time for patients and myself by using Primescan from the beginning of the treatment plan phase through to completion.”

Not only is Primescan faster and more accurate than traditional impressions, it’s also a lot more comfortable for patients. “No more physical impressions mean no more gagging,” Dr. McManus explains, “It is much easier to scan a patient’s teeth than it is to take traditional impressions that are often uncomfortable for them.”

Digital dentistry tools also have the added benefit of getting patients more involved in their own treatment, giving them the ability to see and understand what’s going on in their mouth more clearly than with traditional dentistry. “I’m able to show the patient their own teeth,” says Dr. McManus, “it helps to get them involved in the treatment planning phase.”

Integrating these technologies isn’t just beneficial to patients, our doctors appreciate them as well. “I really enjoy the work I do,” explains Dr. McManus, “I work with great people who help make a great environment – one where we are happy and welcoming to patients. Not only do I get to utilize the latest technologies to help my patients, I have fun while treating them.”

Primescan, along with the rest of our suite of chairside digital dentistry tools, are fully integrated into the Dental Image Therapy Centres workflow. You may even see them in action for yourself at your next appointment. Booking is easy, all you need to do is use the orange “Book Online” button on our website.

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